£sd issues

With the 50th Anniversary of the first Machins issued coming up on 5 June 2017 I thought I had better add the basic list of £sd values to my catalogue.

Ref	Value	Colour	Phosphor	Printer	Perf	Gum	Issue	SG/BPB No.
D 00.5	1/2d	orange-brown	2	H	15 x 14	pva	05/02/68	723
D 01.1	1d	light olive	2	H	15 x 14	pva	05/02/68	724
D 01.2	1d	yellowish olive	C	H	15 x 14	pva	16/09/68	725
D 01.3	1d	yellowish olive	C	H	15 x 14	ga	27/08/69	725Eg
D 02.1	2d	lake brown type i	2	H	15 x 14	pva	05/02/68	726
D 02.2	2d	lake brown type ii	2	H	15 x 14	pva	01/01/69	727
D 02.3	2d	lake brown type ii	C	H	15 x 14	ga	27/08/69	728
D 03.1	3d	violet	C	H	15 x 14	ga	08/08/67	729
D 03.2	3d	violet	C	H	15 x 14	pva	12/03/68	729Ev
D 03.3	3d	violet	2	H	15 x 14	pva	06/04/68	730
D 04.1	4d	deep sepia	2	H	15 x 14	ga	05/06/67	731
D 04.2	4d	deep olive brown	2	H	15 x 14	ga		731Ea
D 04.3	4d	deep sepia	2	H	15 x 14	pva	22/01/68	731Ev
D 04.4	4d	deep olive brown	C	H	15 x 14	pva	16/09/68	732
D 04.5	4d	vermillion	C	H	15 x 14	pva	06/01/69	733
D 04.6	4d	vermillion	C	H	15 x 14	ga	27/08/69	733Eg
D 04.7	4d	vermillion	L	H	15 x 14	pva	06/01/69	734
D 04.8	4d	vermillion	R	H	15 x 14	pva	01/12/69	734Eb
D 05.1	5d	Royal blue	2	H	15 x 14	pva	01/07/68	735
D 05.2	5d	deep blue	2	H	15 x 14	pva		735Ee
D 06.1	6d	bright reddish purple	2	H	15 x 14	pva	05/02/68	736
D 06.2	6d	bright magenta	2	H	15 x 14	pva		736Ea
D 06.3	6d	claret	2	H	15 x 14	pva		736Eb
D 07.1	7d	bright emerald	2	H	15 x 14	pva	01/07/68	737
D 08.1	8d	vermillion	2	H	15 x 14	pva	01/07/68	738
D 08.2	8d	light turquoise	2	H	15 x 14	pva	06/01/69	739
D 09.1	9d	myrtle green	2	H	15 x 14	ga	08/08/67	740
D 09.2	9d	myrtle green	2	H	15 x 14	pva	29/11/68	740Ev
D 10	10d	drab	2	H	15 x 14	pva	01/07/68	741
D 12.1	1/-	light bluish violet	2	H	15 x 14	ga	05/06/67	742
D 12.2	1/-	pale bluish violet	2	H	15 x 14	ga		742Ea
D 12.3	1/-	pale bluish violet	2	H	15 x 14	pva	26/04/68	742Ev
D 18.1	1/6d	greenish blue and deep blue	2	H	15 x 14	ga	08/08/67	743
D 18.2	1/6d	deep blue	2	H	15 x 14	ga		743a
D 18.3	1/6d	greenish blue and deep blue	2	H	15 x 14	pva	28/08/68	743Ev
D 18.4	1/6d	Prussian blue and indigo	2	H	15 x 14	pva		743Evb
D 18.5	1/6d	Prussian blue and indigo	PCP	H	16 x 14	pva		743c
D 21.1	1/9d	dull orange and black	2	H	15 x 14	ga	05/06/67	744
D 21.2	1/9d	bright orange and black	2	H	15 x 14	ga		744Ea
D 21.3	1/9d	bright orange and black	2	H	15 x 14	pva	16/11/70	744Ev

Now I need to check that I do actually have them all! It was a long time ago when I put these in their album.

New backing paper print and the first 17 codes appear

A second type of backing paper print - much bolder and alternating alignment and size of text. This is the first type ii issued found for business sheet stamps M16L MBIL code by Walsall.

Business sheets without any backing paper print have come to light for some M16L MBIL issues from Walsall. So yet another entry in the 2nd list!

The first M17L code appears on the De La Rue counter sheet stamp with no backing paper print.

The decimal pane in the Windsor Castle prestige book has two new Machins: 1st red M16L MPIL by Cartor and 2p MPIL MPIL by Cartor

In addition, the £1.05 gooseberry and 10p tan are repeated from the Beatrix Potter book, with the same codes too but maybe a slightly darker shade this time.

The last new entry for February was the second 17 code with the 1st red M17L MCIL in the pane of four with type i backing paper.

65th Anniversary of Accession £5

Today is the 65th anniversary of HM Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne and the Royal Mail mark this sapphire anniversary with what is a familiar stamp.

Almost exactly 40 years ago the blue and slightly pink £5 was issued on 2 February 1977 and this now reappears in what I expect we shall be told is sapphire blue. The new stamp has the same dimensions and the security iridescent text reads 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF ACCESSION. There are no ellipses in the perforation.

An excellent choice in many ways and a nice addition to the Machin line.

Not known at this address...

For many years I have thought that there should be an on-line edition of the Philatelic Bulletin. I also hoped that someone at the Bureau might also publish all the old issues. It wouldn't be a massively difficult task with today's scanning devices and there are even free search facilities that can be added to sites.

I remember seeing index pages around January or February too each year. They'd be useful on-line as well.

So I was delighted to see the reply to Mr Holbrook's query in the December 2016 Bulletin.

I did think that www.bpb.london/0594 was a slightly unusual address but, at least, it was nice and short and, if you knew the year and month of an article, you could find the issue it appeared in. I know that .london is a comparatively new domain suffix and guessed that bpb dot anything more familiar must have already have been taken. Nevertheless it struck me as a little odd but I hastily typed it in to my address bar anyway.

Nothing.

I tried the same address without the /0594 bit. I wasn't allowed to see that. I tried all sorts of variations but without any success. So I am not too sure how Mr Holbrook will be able to 'enjoy the read'.

I also made another trip to the Royal Mail website, thinking that there may be some news there. Typing 'Bulletin' in the search facility brought up nothing even vaguely of interest to stamp collectors. Scanning the many places we can visit in the 'Shop' I found nothing like Archives or even Bulletin so I gave up and decided to write this grumpy old man's article.

As collectors we make massive efforts to arrange our stamps, booklets, panes, covers etc., keep them neatly in albums, boxes or whatever and, whilst we may spend a little while looking for a particular issue we can share our past acquisitions with enthusiasm and ease. Nothing like as much effort would be needed to archive and make available the British Philatelic Bulletin's content over the years. Those responsible for these things at Royal Mail really do need to show some enthusiasm too and make some effort. I am sure it will be much appreciated across the customer base and by researchers generally.

There ought to be a budget for this. It need not cost a fortune and, if staff are already well-occupied with sales, then I have a suspicion that some collectors would consider lending a hand for little or no recompense to get the job done. So many wonderful illustrations, snippets of detail and, of course, expert articles and lists.

So, come along Royal Mail. It is time to bring The Philatelic Bulletin on-line and let us search its archives on-line too. Or to publish a url that works?

1st Class gets a deeper 'Royal Mail' red colour. Again.

I forgot to mention in my last article that as well as a new font on the booklet covers, there is a new colour for the 1st and 1st Large too. It's Royal Mail Red. I did think we'd had Royal Mail Red before. Maybe we did but, anyway, this is significantly darker than the red we've had to date recently and will be regarded as a new colour by pretty much all of the catalogues.

I'll list the new arrivals in a moment. First there are some more bits and pieces to deal with.

although not as obviously different, there are some deeper blue 2nd Class stamps. The 2nd Class with M16L MBIL and MTIL codes and the 2nd Large with M16L MBIL and MFIL codes.

The Royal Mail 1st Signed For stamp has the M16L date code, no security backing paper. The Special Delivery up to 100g stamp now also has M16L code and no security backing paper.

Recent sheet printings of the 1st and 1st large are in the old colour but the 1st Large does seem to be a deeper red than before and the 1st Class a pale red with a pale Queen's head too. Neither have security printed backing.

Now for the Royal Mail Red stamps. You can see how obviously different they are, and yet I failed to notice when they arrived individually

1st Large with M16L MBIL and MFIL codes

1st Class with M16L MBIL, MCIL, MSIL and MTIL codes.

Mr. Fat booklet fonts

I wonder what inspired the latest font charges in the booklet covers released this week? There is some resemblance to the Mr Men text but I can't imagine that's the reason. Maybe it's just the Royal Mail going for a younger look. Interestingly, the 1 on the Mr Men book is considerably fatter than on the 4 x 1st Large book.

Inside, things are not terribly interesting and I do think there is a big space crying out for some self-promotion in the 1st and 2nd Large panels. We've seen the space used in the past for some very tedious stuff and I'm not sure I particularly want to see Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada return with their £4315 for us at 55!! There's an opportunity for something that wouldn't cost a great deal to print and yet could reach quite a decent size audience and which could be better than a shiny white blank space.

I am assuming that the 1st and 2nd Large stamps themselves are the same as previous issues we have seen on the security backing paper. The 1st red M16L MCIL is new.

A paler shade of dark and 16 code surprises

Another pleasantly inexpensive month on the Machin front, I'm pleased to report. Not the most interesting, perhaps, but I did learn something. There are both MA16 and M16L versions of the MBIL (Business Sheet) 1st Large and 2nd Large stamps. The supplier lists them as both coming from Walsall which seems odd to me, with both being on the newer Security Backing Paper too. I'm wondering whether they're made a mistake there. Hopefully someone can advise on that as it really would seem most odd for the printer to have changed mid-production. When they start the 17 year code or maybe have a change of security backing paper that would seem a more suitable time to me to make such a change. 

The MA16 versions will be in earlier articles.

There is a new shade of 2p in a 'paler dark green' which is not really that much different to my eyes. The head is also stated as being in a darker shade of green, just to confuse anyone trying to describe this succinctly. 2p pale dark green with darker dark green head? That's a De La Rue one.

Also coming along from De La Rue are the Counter Sheet 1st and 2nd with M16L MAIL codes which I thought we'd already had but we hadn't!